Fermi plant generating power again

The Fermi 2 nuclear power plant has resumed generating electricity after a shutdown that lasted nearly two months.

DTE Energy’s reactor was operating at 53 percent of power this morning, according to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

It was restarted early Monday and reached the 20 percent power level needed to spin the plant’s electrical generator later that day.

The plant had been shut down since Nov. 7 so workers could dismantle the main electrical generator and look for the cause of a cooling system problem.

They found a small area in the system that was allowing hydrogen gas from one part of the cooling system to leak into part of the system that’s water-cooled, decreasing the system’s effectiveness.

The generator was reassembled, but the plant still needs repairs to a reactor feedwater pump that was damaged by excessive vibrations on June 25. It is one of two large pumps that feed cooling water to the nuclear reactor.

Until that pump is repaired or replaced, the reactor will be limited to operating at about 68 percent of power.

The 1,100-megawatt Fermi 2 plant has been in commercial operation since January, 1988. It cost nearly $5 billion and took nearly 20 years to build.

When at full power, the plant can provide about 15 percent of DTE’s generating capacity in southeast Michigan.

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